The present invention relates in general to vehicle occupant safety, and, more specifically to occupant seating structures to mitigate injury due to automobile collision and facilitate passenger egress.
A common type of vehicle seating in an automobile is a captain chair seat with armrests. The armrests support the elbow, forearm, and hand of a seated passenger. Armrests are commonly attached to the backrest portion of the seat and pivot upward to a position where the armrest is flush with the seat back. This pivoted position permits lateral movement of a passenger past a seat boundary and also permits the seat back to fold forward to a collapsed position. In addition to providing comfort, armrests are relevant to vehicle safety.
In a side-impact collision, injury to occupants may be sustained when an occupant strikes portions of the vehicle interior with high impact force. Side impact crashes account for more than a quarter of all fatal motor vehicle crashes, second only to head-on collisions. In non-fatal crashes, serious thoracic or abdominal injury, such as contusions, internal tearing, organ rupture, and fractured ribs, may result from rapid deceleration and impact with interior features, such as armrests.
Armrest padding has been used to mitigate injury risk. Other armrest safety modifications are known in the art, including armrests that break away in an impact and armrests that deform upon impact. However, there remains a need to further mitigate occupant injury risk due to armrest impact during collisions.